Not since Jimmy Martin was alive and kicking, or the heyday of Hank Williams III have we seen quotes so unabashed, vulgar-ridden, and pointed about modern country music as the comments that Justin Townes Earle delivered to Connect Savannah ahead of an upcoming appearance at the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia. Speaking to reporter Jim Morekis about the changing face of Nashville and country music, the second-generation songwriter and performer pulled no punches in his assessment of the state of affairs.

“Nashville’s not Nashville. Not anymore,” says Earle, son of Steve Earle and a native of Nashville who’s been outspoken about the city’s growth and change in the past. “Nashville’s always been a strange conduit of a sort of off-the-wall rock scene. That kind of thing’s not new. That was already going on in the ‘80s. The problem that’s happening now is Nashville has become so disconnected with its past. And there are people there now who have an active disdain for Nashville’s past. They don’t want it there and want to see it gone. They all go there thinking they’re gonna reinvent the fucking wheel. I don’t need my country wheel fucking reinvented, thank you very much.”

When the interviewer asks Earle about Bro-Country, that is where things really got heated.

“Oh God. Don’t get me started. I cannot stand that fucking shit. That is the most bullshit idea of country music you could ever come up with. I mean that is just the worst kind of shit imaginable. If you think that shit is country you can kiss my genuine Tennessee ass.”

Justin Townes Earle continues, “Looking back, in 1995 if you told me that one day I’d be fucking wishing for the days of Garth Brooks to come back and save us all, I’d have laughed. That I’d pray for the days of Garth Brooks and Travis Tritt and people like that instead of… well I won’t name any names but you can figure it out.”

So who is to blame for Nashville and country music’s demise? “I’d chalk it up to blowdried douchebags from elsewhere who come in to tell everyone else how they should do things,” Earle says. “It’s not the kids in floppy hats (i.e. hipsters) who are messing up country music, it’s those douchebags.”

Justin Townes Earle recently signed to New West Records, and will release his eighth studio album Kids in the Street on May 26th. He’s currently on tour ahead of the release.

But your comment is beside the point. If he had been asked a question relating the level of commercial success he’s attained and he launched into this tirade, your point would have merit. But he was asked specifically his opinion about this tripe, and he gave it.

I’d say..I’m not here to talk about “others” I’m here to make people aware of what I’ve got going on. He comes off looking like he’s jealous, envious, and suffering from severe butt hurt because he doesn’t like what’s going on in Nashville. Just shut up and make your own product so good the interviewer will only want to ask you questions about it.

Thanks Tom. Took the words out of my mouth. He was asked a question and answered it honestly. I didn’t get any “severe butt hurt” vibes from his answers. Or any indication that he is jealous or envious. He is Steve Earle’s son for god’s sake….not some poor, starving guy living in a van trying to make it and blaming his lack of success and shitty life on his arch nemesis bro country.

You have a point there I agree it don’t make his own work look any better…… But it also don’t make what he said not true he was correct on everthing he said…. I am no fan of his and haven’t liked anything his dad has done in over 20 years but he hit the nail on the head here but I think he should have kept travis tritts name out of his mouth travis put food on that boys table when he recorded steve earles sometimes she forgets and had a big hit off it.

Justin Townes Earle didn’t take to social media to twist off on Bro-Country randomly. An interviewer asked him a question and he answered it honestly, which is all you can ask from someone. Earle is actually doing pretty well in his career, and my guess is the last thing he would want is the life of Florida Georgia Line. Are his comments a bit immature? Too vulgar? Perhaps. But they’re just Earle being honest as opposed to some agenda.

To add to Trigger’s comment – it is easy to read this and think that he was particularly angry because of the language… but he curses like other people breathe. It is just who he is and how he was raised. It may be a bit immature and he could definitely clean up his language, especially with a baby on the way, but no need to overreact.

He’s right. Other than the Country Music Hall of Fame, there isn’t much appreciation for the artists from the early days. As for Garth, his first two albums were great, but after that, I really didn’t care for him much. Chris Gaines was the nail in the coffin.

I agree about Garth. He, and probably his one-time nemesis Clint Black, were great singers on their first two or three albums. I always felt their singing became more affected and less natural after that.

He’s not wrong, but by that same token his comments fall into a bit of an echo-chamber at this point. Sure, JTE fans are going to be delighted about his comments, but they will fall on deaf ears to mainstream fans and Music Row executives.

So yeah, I agree with JTE in pretty much everything he said. But it’s not like his comments are going to make any difference at the end of the day (sadly). Hell, more than anything it will just be viewed by those he is attacking as yet another artist with little no mainstream success, attacking mainstream artists and fans out of jealousy (even if we know that isnt true).

I didn’t take it as Earle bashing Travis Tritt as much as referencing the “Class of ’89” of which both Tritt and Garth were a part of, and how now he would pray for that to represent country, which is a pretty common opinion these days, just as it was to hate those guys back then simply because they were popular.

And let’s face it, guys like Justin Townes Earle and Travis Tritt are on pretty opposite ends of the cultural perspective. I know Earle is friends with Ryan Adams and Jason Isbell (or used to be), and those two guys got into it with Tritt a while back on Twitter.

Random Fact: At one point there was talk of Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, and Shooter Jennings touring together as a newer version of The Highwaymen. Don’t know if it was ever more than talk.

Well, I took it as “We all thought those guys were horrible back then, but fuck, they sound like Hank compared to this shit.”

If not Earle, Isbell, Adams themselves, at least their crowd and type of fans likely view Tritt as a reactionary redneck moron.

Hilarious to think that Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, and Shooter Jennings think that they possess the musical heft to comprise an updated version of The Highwaymen. Of that group, only Shooter has made music that has been consistently country, outside of a song or two. I happen to like some music from all four of those guys, but they’ve got a long way to go to be considered close to Waylon, Willie, Cash, and Kristofferson. Actually, that group would be more like three Kristoffersons and Shooter. Three guys on the fringes of country and without the country bonafides to pull it off.

Well, that’s debatable. I liked Earle’s first couple albums and not the last couple. I like a handful of songs from Ryan Adam’s albums. He releases albums and random songs a prolific pace only exceeded by Buckethead, so admittedly its difficult to keep up. Shooter has released some real shit, but there were several albums in a row that were really good and were very country. I like some of Isbell’s material, but most of it verges on the boring for me.

Question, RD: what do you think of Kristofferson? Your comment seems to imply that any of those four would be his equal, unless I’m simply misinterpreting. He was always something of an outlier with the Highwaymen, given his lack of real mainstream success compared with the others.

I concur with you about Earle’s statements about Tritt: seemed to me he was very openly bashing both him and Garth, otherwise why name him at all? I myself haven’t much cared for Earle’s albums since Harlem River Blues; funny you should mention that Isbell bores you, as that’s exactly my impression of most of JTE’s output the last few years (and little of it has been very country, to boot).

Another question: as per guitarists that have a certain degree of separation from GNR, what do you think of Bumblefoot?

I’m not a fan of Kristofferson. He wrote some good songs, but they were more suited to rock than country and he was really a very minor artist in the grand scheme of things. He was the weak link in The Highwaymen. The only guys who could have really stood up there with Cash, Willie, and Waylon, and not looked out of place were Merle Haggard and Jerry Reed. Coe could have done it, but he was probably too much of a loose cannon and too controversial. If they were looking for a guy on the level of Kristofferson, there were much better choices. Mickey Newbury, Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, etc., would all have been better.

Earle was pretty clearly bashing Garth and Travis Tritt. Ditto on Harlem River Blues. His output since has been uninspiring.

I saw Bumblefoot live twice with Guns ‘n Posers. He was great, as were all the other hired guns that they had in the past. Axl had the luxury of being able to bring in some really talented players. As for Bumblefoot, I don’t really know much about him other than those liver performances and some youtube videos.

See, I’m a big fan of Kristofferson, but even I’ll admit he wasn’t ever really that country. He seemed to vary from album to album: a few aired on a very traditional albeit folkie country sound, and others sounded like Springsteen. But he’s such a great writer that I’ve never really cared all that much. His stuff tends to fit quite nicely into the modern Americana designation. I agree that there might have been “better” choices for another Highwaymen member, but I love his rapport with the group all the same. Haggard would have been a cool choice, and Coe might have been interesting (though he certainly would have dragged the band’s name through the dirt and then some).

Though he has a tendency to be arrogant, I also quite like Travis Tritt. His new live acoustic record from last year was killer. Kinda wish he’d put out that new record he said he was recording with Marty Stuart already.

As for Bumblefoot, the reason I asked is because he was (obviously) in GNR at one point (“Guns N’ Posers” made me laugh), as was Buckethead. Bumblefoot had a solo career before joining GNP and he just put out a new record with a band by the name of Art Of Anarchy. The band’s first record from 2015 featured Scott Weiland on vocals/lyrics and was interesting (a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFT1tW3XsL4). Obviously Weiland died, but they shouldered on with a new frontman — whose name I’m leaving out as it’s rather trite concerning other comments I’ve made on SCM — and put out a new record last week (another sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spwDsfThOCA). The only reason I’m bringing this up is because I mistakenly read Buckethead as Bumblefoot in your above comment.

It’s ridiculous to say that Earl is “bashing” Garth and Travis Tritt. He’s BASHING the current “bro-country” crowd. His statements about Garth and Travis are at most, ambiguous. In fact, given where he is today, if I had to guess, I’d say that Travis Tritt would probably appreciate the mention and whatever attention it might bring him.

I challenge all these guys to just quit bitching about country and put out something that is so great it will not be ignored and get the masses talking about them instead of them having to put down others in order to draw attention to themselves.

Before there was Sturgill, Stapleton, and Isbell, there was Justin Townes Earle. The “here and now” media tend to forget, but Justin Townes Earle was the golden boy of Americana and independent roots, and really helped open the door for Isbell and Sturgill by releasing excellent records and timeless songs. There was a time when Earle played Letterman and invited Isbell to play guitar to help give him a leg up. Earle’s output lately may have been a little more hit and miss, but if you listen to his “Midnight At The Movies” album and say he’s never released anything memorable, you need your hearing checked.

I agree his comments were a little bit salacious, but like father like son. Earle doesn’t believe in pulling punches.

Trigger, you often bemoan the lack of civility on this site, especially when it comes to politics. This isn’t honestly, and it’s not…well he doesn’t pull punches. It’s straight out douchyness and rude. And when we confuse rudeness for honesty, that’s what leads to the lack of civility. How we talk and treat each other, especially those we disagree with, doesn’t change based on the subject matter. So if we celebrate this stuff in music, we’ll see it in politics, and everyday conversation.

Politics is an entirely different topic. I don’t argue for civility in politics, I argue for politics staying out of music. Country music needs people willing to flip a table every once in a while and shake stuff up. It’s healthy.

Also, just because I posted Justin Townes Earle’s comments don’t mean I 100% condone them. I 100% condone everything he said, but I agree he could have been a bit more civil and/or witty in saying them, and they probably would have been more effective. Nonetheless, I’m glad he had the guts to speak up.

Jason Isbell was around before, but in 2011, Justin Townes Earle was a much bigger artist than Jason Isbell. It wasn’t until later in the album cycle for Isbell’s “Here We Rest” and the release of “Southeastern” in 2013 that Isbell really took off. Isbell has bested Earle now, but in 2011, Earle is who everyone in Americana was talking about. That’s why I said the history on Earle feels a little unfairly revised just because he’s struggled since coming off of Bloodshot Records.

Ryan Adams made some super disparaging remarks not too long ago about country music if I recall. His music these days is removed from country to put it mildly. So I can’t imagine him as a Highwayman member. Fun side topic though….who would make up a second Highwayman concept? I’ve always thought Lukas Nelson and Shooter could be a good start.

Goodness. Like I said, the whole new “Highwaymen” thing may have never left the “joke on Twitter” sphere. To act like these guys thought they could replace the original Highwaymen, even if the idea had come to fruition, is ridiculous. Just thought it was an interesting factoid to throw out there. Let’s not skewer these guys over something that never happened.

Travis was a huge fan of steve earle after he got out of jail back in the mid 90s travis was on a few tv shows with steve earle showing him moral support and he even recorded a song of steves called sometimes she forgets and released it as a single and it was a pretty big hit. I think townes earle should have name dropped someone other than travis

Cultural perspective should be left at the work when regarding the state of country music. Otherwise, he is showing that he values political differences over the state of country music, despite his ranting.

And country music was golden in the 1990’s. Purists who complained back then about the singers were wrong.

This thread got away from me before I could comment, but I’ve heard a little bit about the JTE/Shooter/Isbell/Adams collaboration.
Shooter said (I don’t remember if it was from his podcast or radio show or what) that they disbanded because he and Ryan Adams both wanted to be the group’s drummer, and couldn’t reach an agreement. He didn’t mention what the group would be called, this is my first time hearing about The Highwaymen angle

I threw in the “Highwaymen” thing just as an example of a supergroup. They were never going to call themselves “The Highwaymen.” Also, I remember that idea being bandied about shortly after the video of Hank3, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and Keith Richards surfaced where they were called “The New Highwaymen.”

Trig–
Actually, what we call the “Highwaymen” were the New “Highwaymen.” The original “Highwaymen” were a folk group most famous for “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore.” In fact, if you look closely at their first two CD’s on Columbia Records, the country group was not actually called the “Highwaymen.” They were called simply “Willie, Waylon, Cash and Kris” (or by their full names). The first disc was called “Highwayman” (in the singular), named for the hit lead song. Their second disc was called “Highwayman 2.” It was only by the time of their third disc, on Capitol, that they were actually billed as the “Highwaymen.”
The “Michael” “Highwaymen” then sued the country group for expropriating their name. After a few contentious court hearings, Waylon said, “this is ridiculous” and he came up with the idea of inviting the old “Highwaymen” to tour with his group. The “Michael” “Highwaymen” agreed and dropped their lawsuit–and got back together and opened some shows for the Waylon/Willie/Cash/Kris group. The controversy was covered in the Wall Street Journal at the time.

Buddy Guy, too, I guess. They did a nice version of Fogerty’s Ghange In The Weather on Buddy’s Feels Like Rain album.

I don’t know anything about this twitter thing between Isbell and Tritt. I do remember that the first time I saw Isbell, he referenced Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt as the type of country music he liked growing up. He told a story about seeing Tritt live and people throwing quarters at the stage during “Here’s A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).”

Jason Isbell jumped in the fray as well. Basically, Travis Tritt said that Hollywood should stay out of politics on Twitter. This was around the Golden Globe Awards. So Ryan Adams piped up, and produced numerous old tweets from Tritt where Tritt had espoused political stuff. Then Isbell piped up about the right every musician has to a political opinion.

This dude needs to take a chill pill and grow up. Whatever, I don’t care about expletives, and everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but this guy needs to get over himself. First of all “Nashville” has always had outsiders. Most famous country artists grew up somewhere other then Nashville. Purity tests are complete bullshit, and so is defining someone as “genuine”.

Country music has always evolved over time, and it always will. You don’t like bro-country, fine. You don’t think it represents country well, also totally fine. But people aren’t douches or anything else, because they make or like a style of music different than the one you like/make.

Honesty is not a synonymous with name calling, nor is it a shield. Their is a right and wrong way to disagree with someone/something. This is the wrong way to express your point.

If you read the rest of the interview and other interviews with him, he’s not even focusing on the music scene. He has expressed a lot of concern over the last few years about gentrification in Nashville. actually think he’s primarily calling developers dbags.

Y’know, I remember a fella singing a song with a line in that said, “I’m tired of y’all playing dress-up, amd trying to sing them old Country songs…” The first time I heard that, my automatic assumption (being relatively new to the Independent/Underground Country scene, at the time) was, “YEAH! You tell them douchebilly Bro’s what’s what, Sturgill!!!” Now, having spent a little over two years in Nashville, I realize towards whom that was directed. These hipster kids who think because they bought a floppy hat at a flea market, spent two years at Belmont, and picked up a re-release of The Highywaymen at Grimey’s, they suddenly can “do” Country Music. There’s no real, abiding love and respect and passion for the roots, tradition, and rich History of the genre. They are “a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.”

True, but Jason Isbell was born/raised in North Alabama. I don’t know what counts as “city kids,” but pretty sure he isn’t. Same with Sturgill (Kentucky born and military vet). Point is that “real country boys” are not monolithic in their thinking or musical expression. Brand a cow and work a ranch don’t mean mean you only play ’50s style country & western.

Country has always been vaudeville. I’ll take the musicians who can write, sing or play instruments, whether they come from the city or the country.

I’ll admit there’s something funny about someone like Daniel Romano singing country music and calling it “mosey”. But he set his mind to it he wrote better songs than Earl Dibbles so I’ve got to go with the hipster from Toronto.

So, Honky, what should be the test of whether someone is enough of a “country boy” to sing real country music without being judged for it? Maybe artists should include a DVD along with their albums that has video of them doing country things like quartering a hog, breaking a horse, roping a calf, shooting straight, etc. etc. etc. You know, just so we can be sure that we aren’t being ripped off by a non country imposter, for the love of god!!! Is someone like Whitey Morgan complete crap because he grew up in the city?

I wasn’t being sarcastic. How about this as a more direct comment / question: what artists do you see as the “you have a lot of fake country boys singing real Country music” (direct quote) out there today. Sorry for using a little humor initially, but I really am curious as to who fits into this category specifically. I get the other side……it being a head scratcher that people who one would guess are “country” by virtue of where they grew up, etc. are singing horrible crap that they should know better than to be singing. But the concept of it being an abomination for someone who doesn’t meet some standard of authentically “country” to put out real, good country music is beyond me. And I can’t really think of any examples. Even if there were, does it really matter?

I think its like George Jones said a few years ago its not that a lot of this music is bad or anything like that its just not country they should start there own genre and quit fucking with real country

could there *be* anything less country than “chris gaines”? what a joke that was, but it set a weird precedent for the posers who followed. I don’t care for Justin’s music, but I respect that it’s he, and not some coiffed version of himself, who makes it

I’ve always taken JTE’s appeal to be “Steve Earle kicked ass”. Outside of that, yea, nothing of his has ever really blown me away. I’m in the same boat with Isbell, which I know is heresy around here, but his stuff always struck me as Pat Greene with a little more edge.

I think Justin Townes Earle’s musical legacy is pretty far afield from his fathers for the most part, especially when comparing Justin to Steve’s early albums, which for most is what defines Steve’s career. If you listen to Justin just because you want to hear more Steve Earle, you’re going to be pretty disappointed.

Ghost, I’m not so sure about the edge part. I tried ‘Something More Than Free’ on a number of occasions and couldn’t get through the whole thing. An album needn’t be edgy to suit me. but that one has no edge at all. He’s one of those artists that I’m “supposed” to like but don’t.

17:11 Charlie Rose: Let me just understand the whole thing though, because I don’t want to mischaracterize it, in terms of mainstream country music.
17:18 Sturgill Simpson: Uh-huh.
17:19 Charlie Rose: What do you saying about it, if anything?

17:21 Sturgill Simpson: I wasn’t saying anything about — I have no need to call out any of — anyone personally or any of the individuals that make those records. You know, I don’t know them. And I’m sure they’re great people. What I am saying about it is, obviously there is a large audience out there for the kind of records that I am making or a guy like Chris Stapleton is making or Jason Isbell’s making. I have no problem with them selling the wares that they have been selling for 25, 30 years. But there are a lot of people out there that really appreciate hearing the other stuff too. And in a landscape of, for what is essentially a dying and antiquated business model, I would think if I were running a label, I would look for ways to sustain my business. And look for artists that are trying to do something on a more human —

JTE and the bro Country guys are all punks. HOw bout some physical labor or serve your country’s military? Something that matters. Steve Earle gets mad because most people go to his shows to drink and hear guitar town. He wants them to listen to his biased liberal bull crap. I would stand on Steve Earle’s coffee table in my combat boots and kick him in the ass.

Shouldn’t that read: deadbeat dad, ex- druggie, and a man who had the pleasure of being married to seven different women instead of pissing his life away with one woman for his whole life even though he wasn’t still in love with her? Although I’m pretty sure he was married to the same woman three or four of those seven times, so I am not sure how that factors into this (but I’m sure that Country Knight will have a negative view of that too). My opinion is that I couldn’t care less about his personal life, his first six album were incredible beginning to end and that’s how I judge people that are making music, not by their personal life. His politics may be a bit extreme for me, but I don’t give them a bit of thought when I’m cranking up My Old Friend the Blues, Copperhead Road or I Aint Ever Satisfied.

Steve Earle has been clean since his time in jail in 1994. Six of his seven marriages (two to the same woman) were before that time. Whereas he probably wasn’t much of a father to his now two grown sons when they were rowing up, it seems that he has been engaged in the life of his autistic son, who I believe is about seven years old now.

Something tells me that if Steve Earle credited his long term recovery to God and identified with the Christian Right, you wouldn’t be so judgemental about his past.

there is more than just physical labor, and military service can very well be debated seeing the state of our military campaigns in the last 50+ years…. nothing against those that serve but you can’t hold it against those of us that don’t want to.

We may nitpick about the profanity or about one detail or the other, but in essence he is telling it as it is.

However, that won’t change anything. As long as there’s more money in pop-country or bro-country than in traditional country, businesses will go that way, and there won’t be a shortage of singers willing to do what they are asked.

Great point. Personally I loved JTE’s comments. There is nothing wrong with someone being sincere when answering a question. I wish more people in the industry would have enough courage to speak out against bro country as JTE did. There aren’t enough people who have spoken out against the state of country music in such a direct manner. I believe the main reason for this is simple, money. Until bro country stops bringing in money nothing is going to change. Fortunately there are signs that its days as a cash cow are slowing.

The music business is about money, and Nashville knows this just as well as Hollywood. In my opinion the death of popular rock music has been the utmost cause of bro country lining the pockets of music executives. Guys like
Aldean, FGL, and Luke Bryan all play music that sounds like a combination of 80s glam metal and late 90’s/early 2000’s rock. They fill a void in the music scene created by the demise of pop rock. Rock radio stations don’t even exist in many cities these days. Where did the fans of those genres go to? They didn’t simply disappear from the earth. Many of them just listen to bro country now. These people now claim to have gone “county”. Little do they know that they are just listening to a repackaged version of the rock music they enjoyed in their youth. In many ways I think that “real country” music has gone the way of real rock and roll. It exists, but we just have to search harder to find it. It may never be the predominant form of popular country again. We just need to keep searching for the good stuff.

What a crazy comment thread from a forum that wants to see more quality in their music. JTE is obviously passionate about music and I think a lot of passionate people would respond the way he did if asked a question about their thoughts on bro country and the current state of music. I agree with him on his profanity laden response, Tritt and Garth comments and all (which I take as them being more soft/mainstream folks which aren’t that appealing to fans of country with more grit, but hey, it was still decently written/performed country music). I agree with others here that his newer music may not be as appealing; but, I could listen to his Yuma EP and watch videos of him by himself with a guitar all day long. He’s got some serious talent which leads me to the next point, for the folks who think he’s coming off as jealous, I could not see that in a million years. I’m completely surprised by a lot of above.

I know, this comment section is insane. In theory, the reason most/close to all of us come to this site is because we don’t like mainstream country (hence the name “Saving Country Music”). JTE says something derogatory about mainstream country, and suddenly everyone is clutching their pearls and shouting, “Won’t someone PLEASE think about Sam Hunt’s feelings?!?”
For fuck’s sake, I understand if you don’t like JTE, but the enemy of my enemy is still your goddamn friend. I would think the FGLs and LBs of the world would still be Public Enemy #1 around these parts, not Americana artists who have put out a few duds.

Well said, JTE! Nashville has sucked itself up to the likes LukeBryan, SamHunt, and JasonAldean relying on music that sucks, but yet people love that radio shit. Gone are the days of Waylon and George; and artists with true talent like Justin fight to survive in ‘NashvilleCountry’.

Why are other genres of music able to survive with different subsets but for some odd reason not country? It’s either ‘real’ country or bust. Who determines what’s real country anyways? I’m going to quote Sturgill but some have blasted him for not even being real country anymore. How quickly the winds shift.

“Nothing is really different than it was. It’s always been like this,” continues Simpson on the cyclical nature of country trends. “I think Tompall Glaser said it best in the Seventies: ‘Unless you have a solution or an alternative, shut the fuck up. Because you’re just part of the problem.’ I just want to write music that pertains to my life as honestly as I can.”

Bluegrass, newgrass, Western Swing, neotraditional, honky tonk, hard country, Americana, old time, and so many more. Country music has always been about honoring the past from its very beginning. That doesn;t mean it cannot evolve. The problem is what many try to pass off as evolution is actually devolution of the art form, replacing melody for rhythm, and story for lists and affirmations.

eh, Sam Hunt is one thing…but Luke & FGL it’s country…it’s just bad country. And I can totally make the argument that Blake’s mid-tempo ballads are descendants of Conley and Conway, doesn’t make them good. But pop country has always been a sub-genre of country. And I’m not sure that adding in drums is really any different then adding in horns, just because one was done earlier.

Look it is very simple for me if I think of it through this analogy… humans are primates that evolved from monkeys to the point we are no longer monkeys but a new species of primate.

Same with bro-country. It “evolved” from country so much it is basically part of the pop mono genre. So it is no longer country like we are no longer monkeys but it is still music in the way we are still primates/animals.

That is how I explain to the people who cry music must evolve. They either have a light bulb go off or they stop talking to me.

Devolution by who’s standards? Fans of Porter Wagoner era schmaltzy country thought the evolution into outlaw, drinking, screwing honky tonk country was a devolution. Fans of that era will today look at Simpson/Isbell and likes and think you’re nuts for call them country.

The truth is that for the majority of people all they care about in music is if they like it or not. Right now people are loving the hell out of pop country. By denigrating these fans and their favorite artists you’re not saving or promoting what you think is real country music. Somebody who is a fan of pop country but is also interested in branching out will see JTE’s comments and instead of thinking hey this guy sounds intriguing I should check his music out, all they see is a self important douchebag and they move on. Sturgill and Chris Stapleton no matter what they think in private of bro country artists have learned the magic lesson, you don’t have to shit on others to promote yourself.

You’re shooting the messenger here Country Charm. I did not make these comments, Justin Townes Earle did. And as I’ve stated numerous times, though I agree with the sentiment behind them, I would have chosen a different delivery. I simply reported on them, and seeing the reception this article has received, clearly it was something the public was intrigued by.

“Right now people are loving the hell out of pop country.”,/i> Yes, and people are loving the hell out of Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Chris Stapleton too, even though you won’t find them represented on mainstream country radio whatsoever. You don’t need to preach to me that pop has always been in country. I’ve been explaining that on this site for 10 years. All we are asking for is a little bit of balance and representation for the rest of country fans being ignored by the mainstream.

It’s been interesting being here on this site for around 7 years, and seeing the demographics slowly expand to include more mainstream country fans. When I first started coming here, I don’t think a single soul would have taken issue with anything JTE said here.

Big words from someone who floated in on daddys coat tails, after nearly killing himself doing drugs. He wouldn’t have a career if he hadn’t been born into it. What a sniveling whining brat. Shut your pie hole.